Odeon Cafe

This post will be short and sweet. Unfortunately, it will be short and sweet because I'm giving this particular restaurant a bad review. There's something that makes me feel...mean, when I do so. And if you've been a regular reader, you'll notice that I have had the fortune of not landing on too many bad places. But the mediocre and bad restaurants are out there, and as a foodie it's my duty to make you aware.

A group of us walked over to Dupont Circle's Odeon Cafe for one of my roommates' birthday this past week. With some stiff competition in the near 3-4 block radius, one would think a restaurant around there should be on its game. Odeon Cafe was in a word, mediocre. While it was pretty busy for a Sunday night, the service was not attentive. Maybe it's cause the group of us girls looked on the young side in comparison to the other patrons, but when I go to a restaurant, I expect good service regardless of who I'm with or how old I am. For the record, I'm young enough to get carded, but I'm not that young. At the end of the meal, I'm going to put my plastic card on the table and pay just like everybody else. So the service should be up to par. Also, I know the kitchen is hot and serving is fast-paced. But when a waiter is anxious and sweaty, it tends to make me a) jittery, b) feel like I'm bothering them or c) worry about droplets of sweat from their brow falling into my food.

The bread was decent, served with some off-tasting olive oil concoction that I'm guessing had some garlic and basil in it (think pesto-ish dip). We passed on appetizers and dessert...so there's another reason why this review is short. However, if dinner was any indication, I don't think I missed much.

Presentation? Simple enough. Although one friend ordered their rigatoni con pollo e pesto, which came out looking way over oxidized and brownish. Oxidized pesto (or guacamole, for that matter) just does not look appetizing. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs, so adventurous I know, but I was really in the mood for a classic. The sauce was like slightly watered down tomato sauce from a can and had that same offish taste in the olive oil dip surfaced in my pasta (maybe it was the olive oil itself?). The meatballs: flavorless, rubbery and over-cooked.

Maybe I'd give Odeon a second chance, though I'm not sure I feel like potentially wasting more money on another mediocre meal. If you're in Dupont Circle, I'm sure you know there are many other restaurants to choose from. The saving grace of the night was that I was with great company and Larry's Ice Cream was half a block down the street, with their cinnamon cookie dough calling to me.

Take a bite: bonappetitfoodie.blogspot.com.

An Afternoon at 1789

As luck would have it, I logged onto Twitter at just the right time and scored two tickets to a cooking class at 1789 with their executive chef, Dan Giusti and pastry chef, Travis Olson. Five hours and five different types of fish later, I was full, happy and in a slight food coma.

The theme: fish. Could it have been any more perfect for a seafood afficionado like me? Chef Giusti covered all the must-knows about selecting, purchasing, filleting, skinning and of course, cooking fish. Without meaning to sound like a snob, some of this was familiar territory: what fish should not smell like, clear fish eyes and refraining from manhandling the fish. That stuff I've grown up with. However, I learned a great deal about how to fillet the fish, remove the skin, what parts of fish are tough, what types of fish can be cooked with the skin on and a variety of ways to cook the fish.

After talking and watching them in the kitchen for about two and a half hours, we all sat down for some nice, cold white wine and of course, the food. Never have I been presented with such a plentiful variety of fish. I was in foodie heaven--my mouth watering, my eyes big as saucers, my taste buds bouncing off the walls. This was like winning a food lottery! There was the "everything but the kitchen sink" focaccia bread that was thick and warm with a crusty topping of vegetables and cheese. A mound of cubes of ruby red raw tuna with a smoked paprika sauce, asparagus and surryano ham. Fillets of dorade that had been stuffed with rosemary and then baked on a bed of salt. Swordfish with fregola sarda pasta. Swiss chard, lightly mashed potatoes with olive oil, butter and fresh herbs. A halibut "fillet" practically as long as my arm with morel mushrooms, butter and lemon (by far my favorite). And then of course, dessert: banana walnut semifreddo with a coconut milk granita. Are you hungry now?

While all of these dishes might sound intimidating to make them on your own, the recipes are pretty easy. Whether or not they taste just as good as when Dan and Travis make them...that's a different story. For the most part, Dan just seasoned the fish with a little salt, or basted the halibut with butter, and added fresh herbs and lemon after cooking. Dan proved that good fish can stand on its own with a little help from some fresh, standby ingredients.

Cutting the fish into more manageable portions

Swordfish
From the ocean to your plate

Dorade and freshly cut fillets
Cooking whole fish in kosher salt and rosemary

What stood out was Dan's and Travis' passion for food. These guys know what they're talking about and are genuinely excited to share it with you. Questions? No problem; they'll answer every single one of them, no matter how basic. They know not everyone who steps foot into their kitchen knows everything about food and not everyone has had the culinary training they've had. They want to make great food and the knowledge behind it accessible to the clients in the class. By the end of it, they make you just as excited about that 45 lb. headless halibut or the prospect of sampling some fresh, local strawberries.

Huge thanks to 1789 for offering this promo and picking me as a winner, and to Travis and Dan for spending their afternoon teaching us about great food! Go here for more information about the monthly cooking classes; it's beyond worth it.

Take a bite: bonappetitfoodie.blogspot.com.

Trendy Eats

There's something about being in the know that just feels so...well, good. Feeding my insatiable quest for all that is food related (and trendy), Trend Central is a newsletter I've been getting since I was 17. An alumna from my high school talked about her job and this marketing tool on career day way back when, and since then I've been hooked.

I recommend you take a look at some of their food-related trends. Be it backyard farming or beef jerky business cards, Trend Central has directed me to some of the coolest (and let's be honest, weirdest) food trends around.

Wanna know where your salad comes from? Go here. Where's that cow that produced your milk? Try this.

And should you want to look up other food or farming trends, such as bacon flavored vodka, cat poop java and lobster ice cream, go to their list of food-related articles. For more trenderiffic stuff, follow them on twitter @theTrendCentral.

Happy reading and happy eating, foodies.

Take a bite: bonappetitfoodie.blogspot.com.

It's What's for Dinner

Just because I'm insanely busy (and therefore haven't blogged in a while), doesn't mean I'm not eating! Here's the photographic evidence of all the things I've cooked in the past week or two. If I do say so myself, I got pretty creative.

Shrimp Scampi: pretty standard, not all that hard and DELICIOUS! Lemon, garlic and white wine, where can you go wrong?

Mmm, jumbo wild shrimp.

Homemade pizza (okay, I didn't make the dough from scratch. I bought it from Trader Joe's) with mozzarella, roasted yellow and red peppers, marinated artichokes and herbed goat cheese. This tasted even better the next day, straight out of the fridge.

Bon Appetit Foodie picnic favorite: BLT and potato salad (the mayo, dijon and red wine vinegar kind with chives--made up on the fly, of course).

My Asian soy ginger chicken and fried rice invention. Basically, I put some soy sauce, garlic, ground ginger and other secret ingredients (that happened to be in the pantry) in a bowl, put it on top of frozen chicken and baked it in the oven. Turned out totally plate-licking good!

So all in all, I've been pretty satisfied and satiated with everything I've made for dinner these past few weeks. I'll get out to some restaurants soon!

Take a bite: bonappetitfoodie.blogspot.com.